Social Accounts

Each year or at the end of mentoring  we ask our mentees, mentors, parents and teachers for feedback on the progression of the mentee throughout the year. These questions are based on the aims the organisation looks to achieve through mentoring, and enables us to create a mentoring journey for the young person.

Last year we mentored 250 distressed and vulnerable young people and thank you to all our mentors for their valuable work and the schools that we provide a service to. Here are our results (names changed where necessary):

Social Accounts

 

 

 

Teacher Feedback Quotes

“Since starting mentoring her confidence has improved having a positive impact on school attendance [which is] increasing. Attendance for academic year 20/21 was 44% and attendance for 21/22 is 76%”.

“He has thoroughly enjoyed his sessions with Mentor John, as he is always keen for the session to come around each week and always eagerly awaits John’s arrival. John’s patient, calm and caring manner and his genuine interest in [his Mentee] has led to a great relationship being formed. With [Mentee] living in such a busy household having dedicated 1:1 time with an adult who shows interest in him has really helped to develop his self-confidence. Home life remains challenging, as does his behaviour choices while at home, however we have had minimal outbursts at school over the past 2 terms and he now shuts down less often in school. Many thanks to John”.

“It’s lovely that she has an adult who she trusts and is not linked to school, who she feels is able to give the time specifically for her. Portia has been trying hard to improve [her Mentee’s] self-esteem and aspirations for the future. She enjoys her time with Portia as this is something consistent and calm in an otherwise chaotic home life”.

“He is starting to understand the effect of how he speaks to people. Showing more confidence in his ability in schoolwork…Talked in depth about inappropriate language and behaviour and how to change. Willingness to change how he is and try and improve behaviour”.

“She has become more self-reliant in given situations. Applications to post-16 providers completed, resulting from aspiring to achieve. Meeting coursework deadlines.”

“He is accessing learning more, producing more work and showing better focus”.

“She clearly enjoys her sessions and looks forward to them, so the aim of her having a positive place to outlay any of her concerns/anxiety is good. I am aware she has issues with home life and pressures she feels, and it has been reassuring to know she has someone to talk to about them. She has been positive in class and fully engaged with work”.

“He seems confident and more positive. He is accessing learning more, producing more work and showing better focus”.

Mentee:

“I really like the service and I’m thankful for having the opportunity to take part in this, and I look forward to the sessions and getting to speak to someone who won’t judge me for what I say. It has honestly really helped”.

“I don’t have any complaints, my Mentor has helped me a lot and I am improving”.

“I feel more open so I can talk about my feelings and mental health more”.

“No way to improve: My mentor treated me with respect and didn’t judge when listening. I didn’t feel pressure to say things in a certain way”.

Mentor: 

“She is always keen to share her and her family’s news with me. We have established a trusting and friendly relationship through painting during our meetings. She is gifted artistically I think and accepts suggestions for her work”.

“He understands I am giving him the time and attention simply because I want to. I am not paid, obliged or legally required to [which is very significant to him].”

“She has made new friends at school and this has helped her self-confidence…She responds well to positive comments and likes to identified for academic achievements – but don’t we all! She is a pleasure to see”.

“She is more confident and is beginning to recognise the signs around her anxiety and how to deal with them, rather than not attending school or lessons”.

“She is far more confident and less anxious now than she has even been before. I have established a really good relationship with her and I believe she looks forward to our meetings. She has lots of friends now but also has friends in her home town. Her relationship with her foster family is very good and they are extremely support of her. She is less angry at the world and copes better with the situations life throws at her”.

“He has become a much less angry individual! He applies himself well at school now and is expected good grades for GCSEs. He is also more confident and because of this he has been able to get his relationship with his Dad on a basis that is much more on his terms. He seems much more grown up and settled recently”.

“He became a much happier student over the time that I saw him. He had anxiety around whether the teachers liked him prior to our meetings, but none of this anxiety by Easter. His friendship group had also increased and he no longer felt such an outsider. He was able to participate in lessons better and didn’t feel such loneliness”.

“Over time we discussed many subjects but always made a point of emphasising the importance of schoolwork and leaving with qualifications to meet his dreams. He openly admitted he struggled with concentrating but there was no doubting his intelligence. Over time he told me that he was improving in his schoolwork and week on week has less incidents of detention. In my opinion he is fundamentally a great lad with a good future”.

“I think they are learning to acknowledge their own self-worth and how to dismiss, or at least challenge, the negative thoughts they are having. Feelings of anxiety are still prevalent but again they are learning how to control this with the aid of breathing techniques and rational thinking”.

“With the support of Mentor Link and a caring school team, I believe the combined effort makes a positive difference. Our target with him is to help maintain his emotional wellbeing so that he can remain in education beyond 16 and so stands the best chance of reaching 18 with a positive prospect of employment, and a happy self-motivated life. It is a little to hope for but a lot to achieve. If Mentor Link’s contribution adds only a tiny bit to make that more likely, it is worth every penny”.

Parent:

“In the past 12 months, his mental wellbeing has improved significantly. This has resulted in improved self-confidence and in return improved his negative behaviours. His improved self-confidence has allowed him to tackle his GCSEs, resulting in good grades, commencing College with little concern, and even taking on two part-time jobs! He enjoys his mentoring sessions with Bill and even through Lockdown they continued to meet virtually. My son and Bill seem to have a strong relationship and he values the sessions. I do believe he has significantly benefitted from his time with Mentor Link and his Mentor Bill, and that this has played a big part in his improved self-confidence to date”.

We asked the mentees: How can adults prevent young people from needing this type of support?

“They should believe what the children say and accept whatever it is that they say instead of passing it off like it is nothing and it doesn’t matter”.

“Recognising the issue before it becomes a problem which would affect you daily”.

“Treat them as equals”.

“Don’t mistreat them or dismiss them early on”.

“I would not want to prevent an opportunity to speak with adults that are not family or teachers. It helps talk about subjects which are not always comfortable discussing with family or teachers”.